Wrap up 2026
27 May 2026 | 17:30 - 18:00 CEST | Alcide De Gasperi | 
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Consolidated programme 2026
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Transcript
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Florence Ranson: Hello? Yes, there’s hope. It’s the end of the day, even for the mic, it’s getting tired. Thank you very much, Chloe, and thank you for joining us for this session. Thank you all also for your contributions. It’s really nice to see that even though we’re nearing the end of the event and nearing the end of the day, and it’s been a very fulfilling day, a very rich day, you’re all still here. I see lots of colleagues standing at the back there. Please feel free to come down if you want to take a seat for the last couple of minutes, but of course you can stay where you are. But everybody’s coming back from the workshops, which I understand were quite active as well and quite intense, and we’ll see the outcomes of the workshops and the feedback on the day.
So we are coming to a wrap. And I’d like to, first of all, for the first part of the closing, and it’s going to be a quick one, but invite colleagues from Eurodig and EURID to give their special thanks, first of all.
Sandra co-moderator: Thank you very much. Well, there is a huge group of people to thank. But first of all, let me tell you, I’m so much impressed that the room is so full. We never had that in, as long as I remember that we had for the last session, a wrap -up session, such a big room. So my first and biggest thanks goes to you, that you are still here at that hour. after two intensive days and of course we would like to thank all we were everyone who was involved in building the program um the focal points the organizing teams the speakers the rapporteurs the youth participants who prepared our institutional partners that keep us supporting us for a long time and we hope they will continue and of course our sponsors i think regina you have a big list of someone to thank as well
Regina co-moderator: indeed thank you very much sandra um i think if there is a proof of multi -stakeholder and collaborative achievement then it’s this conference eurodic our institutional partner urid has the honor to be the host which happens only once in 10 years so thank you very much for this as well and you you thank you that you also used this opportunity to celebrate 20 years of dot eu with us on this occasion thank you very much but there’s of course one partner whom we like to thank in particular and this is the one uh our colleagues and our team from digi connect uh fabrizia bernini uh gemma carlo dillo and martina balbero if you would please like to come
Sandra co-moderator: martina just said i’m not martina sorry regina regina just said we need all of all three of you regina just said every 10 years you’re hosting a euro dig so maybe we can already make arrangements for coming here again in 2036 because i must say in terms of uh usability brightness network opportunities, that was a perfect place to be. And we would like to thank you very, very much for making that possible, not only for giving us the building, but also for the fabulous collaboration in building the program. It was truly a pleasure to connect so closely with you, to have you, not only Martina in the organizing teams and in the program committee, but also Fabrizia and Gemma on the stage, connecting with the community.
I think this was really very much appreciated by everyone. And we would like to, and now I have to, I would need one more hand, flowers in the colors of the European Union. And of course, the .eu. Fabrizia, you still have a hand? The .eu symbol? Okay. Thank you. then because we know there was a big team behind it we pulled together Swedes from across Europe from across Europe means all the places where Europe has an office or from Switzerland of course and yes and a thank you to a lady with whom it would not be possible at all the lady of the event thank you very much Martina photo of go ahead thank you all
Florence Ranson: thank you very much and congratulations on a very successful event i think that we can now indeed i can finish the uh thanks part and i’d like to indeed thank the organizing teams uh beyond our colleagues from institutions but also our tech team for leading us safely uh through the two days it’s very rare that we have no tech hiccup so kudos guys and that’s it from me i’d like to wish you a very good evening a safe trip home all over the place wherever it is you’re going to whether today or tomorrow enjoy your evening but before we close i still have to invite a very final message from shanghong who from unesco and sarmad hussein from i can so please Thank you and bye -bye.
Sarmad Hussain: Thank you, organizers. Thank you, Sandra. So we’ll just take a quick few minutes just to remind you that, you know, when we talk about Internet access and we look globally, we obviously live in a very multilingual world. And one of the things or one of the asks from the community has been that we make Internet available in all the different languages and scripts which people speak. and this is something which community has been involved in. We’ve obviously, community has led the effort, technical community has developed standards and now it’s possible, of course, to have domain names and email addresses which help us navigate the internet and communicate on the internet in our local languages. So this has been an ask.
For example, since the Tunis agenda, this is Tunis in 2005. I guess Shen Hong is also going to talk about how this is also obviously something which UNESCO looks or works to achieve as well. And so now it is possible to have domain names and email addresses in all the different languages. That not only impacts, for example, me, where I come from, a place which uses has many languages but all written in Arabic script so I, you know, for example I can have a domain name and email address in my language, in Arabic script but also in many of you in Europe as well where you’re using scripts other than Latin or even when you’re using Latin script you’re using characters in Latin script which go beyond just the letters A to Z and use diacritics and other letters so with the domain names with these email addresses now available there is still a challenge and that challenge is that when we start using these domain names and email addresses in applications like signing up for social media applications or trying to use an e -commerce application or even trying to use a government service.
You know, if you’re using these email addresses, for example, in local languages, many of these services just remain still unavailable to people. And I think the message which we want to share from ICANN is that we all need to work together to still make sure that even these technologies which have been developed by the technical community to address the ask from the larger community globally, we need to do our part to make this work. So, for example, we need to go and see whether our organizational websites accept these domain names and email addresses in different languages, our email services are updated, and if they are not, then obviously we work within our organizations to make sure that we are able to do this work.
to make that work. We also organize events to raise awareness about this. I guess that’s one of the reasons we’re here to talk to you. We call them Universal Acceptance Day. So this is a universal acceptance challenge that all domain names and all email addresses should work with all applications. And we obviously would like you as technology developers, as public sector members or academia members or civil society members to please play your role in making sure that internet remains accessible for everyone. So with that, I’ll also… I’ll pass on the mic to my colleague, Shannon.
Dr. Xianhong Hu: Thank you, Sarmad. Thank you also for putting on a UNESCO t -shirt. It shows the spirit of partnership. So actually, as the chair of UNESCO Information for All program, His Excellency Ambassador Salih Abduh has unfortunately cannot come here in person, so please allow me to read a short message on his behalf. Tonight, jointly with ICANN and Eurodig, we warmly welcome you to the cocktail. I believe the drinks are already available outside, so I’ll be very brief. So following the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the EU here, we have experienced an outstanding Eurodig 2026. in the past two days in the wonderful building of European Commission here. So we have enjoyed so exceptional hospitality from EURID and EURDIG, alongside also with the very open, rich discussions and inclusive voices we have been hearing here, spanning so wide range on topics such as internet governance, domain names, universal acceptance, which is at the heart of our partnership, WSIS, Global Digital Compact, NRIs, IGF, gender equality, intergenerational dialogue, so many young people, young voices here, just to name a few.
So really, on behalf of all the participants and audiences, a big thank you to you, EURID and EURDIG, and also to Sandra and to Regina. Really, we are so happy being here. And this year also marks a significant milestone for UNESCO as the 25th anniversary of the Information for All program. It was established in 2001, works to build inclusive knowledge societies in six priority areas, information for development, accessibility, literacy, ethics, preservation, and multilingualism in the cyberspace. This anniversary offers the key opportunity to revitalize the program and reimagine the inclusive knowledge societies in the digital and AI age. That’s exactly the objective which strongly resonates with the discussion we’re having here at your dig. We want to invite all the European stakeholders, governments, the technical community, civil society, academia, and the private sector to join us in this event.
sector to join force with UNESCO, with all of us in bridging global digital divides to promote universal acceptance and eventually shaping truly multilingual and inclusive futures. So with that, let’s cheers for partnerships and friendship. Thank you. So we can have the last. I just enjoy your drink and enjoy our last night. And also we are here to take maybe final family picture. You are all welcome to come to stage with us. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.